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Arms Trade

Asked by Iqbal MohamedIndependentDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 16 April 2026UIN 126483

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to improve transparency in arms licensing.

Answered by Chris Bryant

The UK's Export Control regime is one of the most transparent in the world. Since this Government came into office, we have ensured publications of export licensing information are as timely as possible in order to aid public and Parliamentary scrutiny.

The Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) publishes a significant amount of information. This includes quarterly and annual statistics on export and trade control licensing decisions and supporting tools such as the publicly searchable database of licensing data. We have also periodically published additional information releases relating to specific exports and destinations, to support public and parliamentary scrutiny.

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